The thing is, Sylvester wasn’t doing so well at rat control. In fact, his fur was frayed, his body covered in sores, bites and fleas — and he had a severe case of ear mites.

When Rob Boisvert, an animal rescuer with Refuge RR, heard about Sylvester through a friend last month, he paid the house a visit — and found the cat’s working conditions even more nightmarish. The house, in the heart of a neighborhood notorious for drugs and prostitution, was divided by temporary renters.

“When I got there, I was taken back with just how bad it was,” Boisvert says. “It was an actual real-life crack house.”

And Sylvester had obviously not known much in the way of human contact.

Indeed, Sylvester’s days of battling rats in an icy, dilapidated house are already behind him. Gwen Thompson, founder of Country Cat Sanctuary, is nursing him back to health. His fleas are pretty much banished; same with those ear mites.

Soon Sylvester will be ready for his next gig — as a real member of someone’s family.